Free Republic

The Statue of Liberty was originally designed to be a Muslim woman, the Smithsonian Institution's magazine says.  An article on the government-administered museum’s blog, Smart News, claims one of the designers of Lady Liberty drew inspiration from monuments in Egypt and originally intended to construct a veiled female peasant on the Suez Canal.  The article cites historian Barry Moreno, author of multiple books about the statue, whose Islamic origins were also reported last week by The Daily Beast.   “Taking the form of a veiled peasant woman, the statue was to stand 86 feet high, and its pedestal was to...

Old photos of the Statue of Liberty standing in Paris were extraordinarily surreal In science fiction filmdom, the destruction of the Statue of Liberty is merely a sign that the carnage is chugging along at a steady tack. But reality provides some equally strange views of Lady Liberty, particularly when she was under construction in Paris during the mid-1880s. Here are some curious photographs of this iconic Statue in various states of disarray. The Statue of Liberty was supposed to be a centennial gift from France to the United States, but funding difficulties waylaid the project for almost a decade....

Hopefully this is a metaphor for what will happen in November...

See live & streaming views of the Statue of Liberty, the Torch, New York Harbor, Lower Manhattan, Ellis Island

Examining a photo from the middle-of-the-night deed, you expect to spot beer cans. The gang of 20-somethings had just hoisted Lady Liberty onto her perch atop an old railroad pier in the middle of the Susquehanna River. Yet no beers were cracked until later. Now Stilp is marking the 25th anniversary of the statue, located on a stretch of river just north of Harrisburg. He arranged a commemorative stamp cancellation and a commemorative coin, and he’s conducting a contest for a song about the statue. “Of all the replicas across America, it’s one of the larger ones,” says Stilp, 61,...

Now this is LEADERSHIP. When former Utah Governor John Huntsman yesterday made it official that he was running for the White House in 2012, he spoke not far from the Statue of Liberty. Another USA President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, on September 1, 1980, Labor Day, not only to kick off the fall Presidential campaign, but also to take to campaign to then USA President Jimmy Carter. In these two videos, not once do one see him saying about the need to be “civil” unlike Governor Huntsman calling for civility yesterday. President Reagan then KNEW the very economic...

I don't care how you feel about illegal immigration. This has got to be one of the stupidest, most embarrassing petitions in a long time! :(

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Emma Lazarus

SAN FRANCISCO - A woman clad in a shiny silver costume, complete with a Lady Liberty hat, fell to her knees and rolled onto the concrete floor of San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza in front of about 80 people on Feb. 22 while the crowd cried “don't give up! Then a man in a white doctor's coat came along with other women dressed in bright colored granny gear passionately reciting the Bill of Rights, gradually reviving Vicki Leidner, of San Francisco, with fake blood on her face, from her mock affliction. The crowd giggled and joined in reciting. The street...

Fillibuster holding Peace on Earth!

Nice Systems aids security at the famous American landmark using its smart video solutions, Israel21c reported. The Ra'anana-based company has been working with the U.S. Park Police responsible for the site’s security, and installed its technology throughout the complex prior to its re-opening two months ago. The Nice solution uses IT-grade video networking and management, delivering images and advanced analytic applications to the park police to help protect the 117-year-old national monument. The Statue had been closed to tourists since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and was reopened amidst warnings of further terror attacks on strategic buildings and...

For my American friends, during a week when the America/Republican bashers are in full swing...A little pay back to Michael Moore. Click here: http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=302592#302592

I read numerous online news sources on a daily basis, and I check many of them more than once throughout the day. And so it was that I heard the news of Pat Tillman's death sooner, perhaps, than many. As I read the sketchy details and looked at the photo of Tillman in his proud Ranger uniform, tears came to my eyes. In just a few words and with a single photo, I felt his loss. Oh, certainly it was the merest shadow of the loss his family must feel, but it was a loss none-the-less. Within hours, more details...

This month, a certain industrial business in my town is gearing up to celebrate its 100th anniversary. The celebrations will be subdued, however, because business isn't what it used to be and the company is struggling. Adding insult to injury, many of the company's employees are currently out on strike, and we can expect whatever celebrations there may still be to be marred by protest signs and shouting workers. Another area manufacturer has had financial problems as well, and there have been rumors of relocating the work to Mexico. At a time when the employees should be coming together and...

Lady Liberty to America: Can you spare a dime? Mayor Bloomberg helped launch a nationwide fund-raising campaign yesterday to raise $5 million to reopen the Statue of Liberty. The landmark has been closed because of security concerns since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, although Liberty Island remains open. And while the federal government doles out millions of dollars in homeland security funds to out-of-harm's way states such as Wyoming and North Dakota, it hasn't forked over enough dough to reopen the nation's most enduring symbol of freedom. "It's great that people want to help open Lady Liberty again, but...

Columnists' Corner "Having Our Cake" By Lady Liberty I don't know how it is where you live, but as this election cycle approaches in my town, much of the talk is of taxes. The city and the local school system both want more money. Various local taxpayer funded programs say they're getting the state and federal dollars to which they're entitled, but they'd like to be entitled to more. Meanwhile, the average citizen is facing a ballot offering choices between politicians who favor higher taxes and those who think job cuts are both necessary and inevitable, as well as...

FRN Columnists' Corner "Springtime in New England" By Lady LibertySpring is traditionally the time for new beginnings. This year, however, it's the autumn that brings new beginnings, at least for those who wish to plant and nurture the seeds of liberty. On October 1, the results of a vote of the more than 5,000 members of the Free State Project were announced. The Free State Project is the embodiment of an idea suggesting that a sufficient number of political activists could work within the existing system to repeal unconstitutional laws and return us to a Constitutional republic, at least within...